Too much sitting is harmful.

Photo © blue jean images.

In this month’s AJN, author Linda Eanes sounds the alarm about the health risks associated with the way most of us spend much of our waking life: sitting down. Her article, “Too Much Sitting: A Newly Recognized Health Risk,” reviews research on the health effects of prolonged uninterrupted sitting (sitting for 30 minutes or more) and high-volume sitting (sitting for seven hours or more each day).

Studies show an association between high-volume and prolonged uninterrupted sitting and health risks, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and all-cause mortality. Sedentary time is also linked to obesity and an increased risk of certain cancers, including ovarian, endometrial, and colon cancer.

Eanes notes:

“Simply put, too much sitting, with its characteristic reduced energy expenditure and absence of whole body movement, may jeopardize health even in the presence of regular exercise.”

Exercise matters, but we’re still sitting too much.

Unfortunately, Eanes’s statement describes my life (see my September editorial) and that of most people I know: sitting at a desk, sitting while commuting, and doing some exercise a few hours a week. (Or what we like to think of as “exercise”—I have a friend who says mall shopping is good exercise because of all the walking, trying on clothes, and carrying packages.)

Total daily sitting time.

Exercise still matters, and we should still engage in regular physical activity. But we should pay more attention to our total daily sitting time and encourage our patients to do the same. Eanes suggests that balancing sedentary behavior and physical activity might be a matter of simply taking more frequent standing or walking breaks: walk up and down the office hallway, take phone calls while standing, and so on.

If you are a staff nurse, you are probably safe in this regard—I’ve never known a staff nurse to have a problem with “prolonged uninterrupted sitting.”

The article (1.5 hours CE credit available) described above, as well as the editorial, are free to access.